Are you a birder? Then you should know the meaning of these Birding Terminology words.
Aplomado – a Spanish word for plumbeous (see plumbeous)
Ashy – a pale grey colour
Bay – a shade of brown
Berylline – a light blueish-green colour.
Berylline Hummingbird
Bohemian – socially unconventional, a nonconformist
Boreal – of the Boreal forest in the north of the planet
Bridled – wearing a bridle (a black line on a bird’s face could resemble a horse’s bridle)
Buff or Buffy – dull yellow or yellowish-brown
Calliope – a Greek goddess of literature, science and art
Cerulean – various shades of blue
Cinereous – ashy-grey
Clapper – something that makes noise by banging one thing against another, such as a bell or clapping your hands
Colima – a state in Mexico, also a volcano in Mexico
Cordilleran – of the mountains
Crissal – a wiring diagram (why this is used to describe a bird, I am not sure)
Dusky – a dark colour (such as dark grey as opposed to light grey)
Faciated – having many of the critical features of the species
Flammulated -having flame-shaped markings
Ferruginous – rust-coloured.
Ferruginous Hawk
Fulvous – reddish-yellow, dull orange, orange or yellowish-brown
Gila – a river in New Mexico and Arizona (or something from that area)
Gilded – gold-plated or gold-coloured
Glaucous – a dull greyish-green or greyish-blue.
Glaucous Gull
Hepatic – Pertaining to the liver (The Hepatic Tanager is brownish-red, the colour of a liver).
Hoary – greyish-white
Indigo – a tropical plant used to make a dark blue dye.
Indigo Bunting
Lazuli – pertaining to Lapis Lazuli (a bright blue rock)
Loggerhead – a large head
Magnolia – a plant with a white, whitish or rose-coloured flower
Marbled – having streaks and swirls like marble.
Marbled Godwit
Mottled – marked with spots or blotches of different colours
Ocellated – having eye-liked markings.
Ocellated Turkey
Ochre– reddish-brown earth colour
Ochraceous – ochre-coloured
Olivaceous – yellowish-olive green
Pectoral – having to do with the breast or chest area
Pelagic – having to do with the sea
Peregrine – to wander
Pied – having two or more colours
Pileated – having a crest.
Pileated Woodpecker
Pinyon – a small tree native to SW USA and Mexico
Piping – a high-pitched voice
Piratic or Parasitic – to attack and rob
Plumbeous – dull grey, the colour of lead (think of a plumber and lead pipes)
Pomarine – having the nostrils covered by a horny plate on the bill
Prothonotary– a chief clerk in a law court (why this is used to describe a bird, I don’t know)
Roseate – pink.
Roseate Spoonbill
Ruddy – reddish.
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruffed – having a frill around the neck.
Ruffed Grouse
Rufous – rusty brown
Rufescent – Tinged with rufous or red.
Rufous Hummingbird
Sage – a plant native to the Mediterranean area and southern N America
Savannah – a grassy, treeless, plain in a tropical or sub-tropical region.
Savannah Sparrow
Scaled – having overlapping feathers that resemble fish scales
Sedge – a plant that grows in wet ground
Semipalmated – partially webbed.
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Sepia – reddish-brown
Slaty – slate-coloured
Sooty – soot coloured, almost black
Sulphur – lemon yellow
Tawny – orangish or yellowish-brown
Tufted – having a cluster of feathers or hair that sticks up in an unruly fashion
Vermilion – brilliant red
Vermilion Flycatcher
Vesper – an evening church service (why is this used for the name of a bird. does the Vesper sparrow sing in the evening only)
More Birding Terminology
We have no doubt missed a few words in our list of Birding Terminology. Do you know of an adjective used to describe a bird species we have not listed? Let us know.
Photos Wanted
Do you have a photo that fits the description of one or more of our Birding Terminology? Any images sent will get a photo credit of the photographer.